Here’s How to Clean an Epson Printhead

Contact 1–888–570–1595 to Clean an Epson Printhead

If your Epson printer prints a faint image, skips lines, or has streaks in the image, the nozzles may be clogged. This is a common problem that many users encounter with their Epson printers.

It is inevitable that printheads will become clogged over time as small amounts of ink residue dry and collect in the nozzles. Being cautious about replacing cartridges immediately when the low-ink warning sounds will help prevent ink from drying out inside the nozzles, but one or more may still become clogged for other reasons.
Causes of clogs

If the nozzles are clogged with air or ink, the printhead will be clogged. Blockages usually occur when:
Continue printing with a depleted ink cartridge. Using empty ink cartridges can cause air bubbles to form, which can clog the cartridge and/or print head. In addition to clogging, printing with empty ink cartridges can cause the printhead to overheat and become permanently damaged.

Do not turn off the printer. If not used regularly, the ink will dry in the nozzles. When you turn on the printer, it will run a mini cleaning cycle and the ink will start flowing again.

I don’t use my printer regularly. As mentioned earlier, the ink dries out without use, so if you only use the printer a couple of times a month, a laser printer is a good choice. Laser printers use toner powder, so it doesn’t dry out.
Knowing the common causes of clogged printheads can help you take the necessary steps to prevent this problem from occurring. As the old adage goes, prevention is always better than cure.

How to clean the print head
Before opening the device and cleaning it manually, use the printer’s menu to check the nozzles and run a cleaning cycle.

Printhead cleaning cycle.
Epson printer models offer very efficient cleaning cycles that typically clean the nozzles in one or two cycles. However, keep in mind that newer models have longer cleaning cycles, which unfortunately means they use more ink each time. Here’s how to get started:

• Before doing anything else, make sure that no errors are displayed on the printer’s LCD screen.
• Press the Home button, select “Settings,” then “Maintenance.”
• Select “Check printhead nozzles.”
• The printer produces a page with a grid of four colors designed to show which nozzles are clogged (and which are not).
• If there are no spaces, select Done.
• If there are gaps or some lines are faint, select “Clean Printhead” and continue.

CAUTION: Do not turn off the printer during a cleaning cycle. Doing so may permanently damage your device!

Note: This process only applies to select Epson Workforce, Artisan, and SureColor model printers, but can be broadly applied to many other models, including most Expression models. If you have questions about your specific printer, see the printer documentation.

Check out the video below to learn how to run a printhead nozzle check and clean the printheads directly from the printer display.

For a visual walkthrough of the cleaning process for A3 and A4 style printers, check out this helpful YouTube tutorial here.

If print quality does not improve and you run 2 or 3 cycles, wait for the printer to run for a few hours. Epson recommends a standby time of up to 6 hours. Then go through 1–888–570–1595 the cleaning cycle again and see if the print quality improves. Many people continue to run cleaning cycles until the heads are clean, often 6 to 8 cycles. This can run until the next morning when all the ink used in the cleaning cycle collected in the head has dried and clogged it again. Of course, if you do this repeatedly, the clog will get worse over time and you’ll use up more ink.

If it is past the warranty period and you still do not see any improvement, please contact Epson for further guidance. If you are no longer covered by warranty, you can manually clean the integrated parts to remove stubborn ink clogs.

Printhead cleaning can be done manually in one of several ways, some more complicated and difficult than others. Below are some common troubleshooting methods, listed from easiest to most complex, that work on most Epson inkjet printer models.